Mariano Rivera struggles as New York Yankees lose 6-5 to Toronto Blue Jays – MLB Update
Mariano Rivera struggled as the New York Yankees lost their road game 6-5 against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, Toronto on Tuesday, April 19.
Rivers tossed the winning outing into the hands of the opposition in the eighth inning.
On the other hand, it was well-deserved victory for the Blue Jays as they put in a strong performance in the game. They earned an early lead when Jose Bautista hammered a long 380-foot long home-run off the Yankees' starter Allan James Burnett. However,
the Yankees retaliated in the second inning, as designated hitter Jorge Posada opened the account and added a RBI tying single. Russell Martin drove in a single off the Blue Jays' starter Kyle Drabek. Toronto’s Aaron Hill took his club back into game with
a sacrifice fly to right-field.
Both starters then struck back and did not allow any run in the fourth and fifth innings. The sixth inning belonged to the batters as the Yankees’ slugger Mark Teixeira launched a two-run homer to centre-field and increased the lead 4-2. The Blue Jays’ Edwin
Encarnacion shined in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single. The Yankees gained momentum as Chris Granderson added a huge 420-feet homer widening the lead to 5-3.
The Yankees’ relievers Joba Chamberlain and Rafael Soriano restricted the Blue Jays’ batters from scoring any run in next two innings. The hopes were alive for the Yankees until the ninth inning when Rivera tossed wild pitches for a run-scoring walk that
shortened the lead 5-4. John McDonald added a tying RBI single on a bunt, forcing the outing into a 10th inning.
In the tenth, the Blue Jays’ closer Jon Rauch provided the opposition a full chance to score, but the Yankees remained unfortunate. However, it was not the case with the Blue Jays’ Travis Snider as he hammered to deep centre for a winning run.
Snider seemed pleased after earning a triumph for the club. "That's all the inspiration we need as players is to see what we did in the ninth inning against Mariano," Snider further added. "To be able to give ourselves a chance, to go out there and just
have that shot, I'm very thankful for it."
It has also laid a positive foundation for the Blue Jays, as both clubs will compete for their second and last outing of the two-game series on Wednesday.
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